Page 23 of Ravished

"The local people are quite right to call him a strange and unpredictable man," she said for the hundredth time. "Just imagine ordering up a waltz without so much as a by-your-leave and then singling you out, Harriet. Thank heaven he did not choose Felicity. She cannot afford to have her name coupled with his before she goes to London."

"Actually," Felicity said, "I was quite grateful to him. Now that the waltz has been introduced to Upper Biddleton we shall no doubt be able to dance it again at the next assembly. And it is all the rage in London, Aunt Effie. You told me so yourself."

"That is beside the point," Effie retorted. "I am convinced Mrs. Stone and the others are correct. The man is dangerous. He even looks dangerous. You are both to be extremely cautious around him, do you understand?"

Harriet yawned. "What is this, Aunt Effie? Some concern for my reputation at last? I thought you felt I was safe due to my advanced years."

"Something tells me no woman is safe in that man's presence," Effie said darkly. "Mrs. Stone calls him a beast and I am not at all certain but that she may be right."

"I felt quite safe with him," Harriet declared. "Even when we danced the waltz."

But she had lied to her aunt, Harriet knew. She had not felt safe at all in Gideon's arms. Just the opposite, in fact. And she had enjoyed every dangerous thrill that had shot through her when he had whirled her about on the dance floor.

Harriet knew she was not going to go back to sleep and it was much too early for anyone else in the household to be awake. She pushed back the covers and got out of bed. She would get dressed and go downstairs to make herself a pot of tea. Mrs. Stone would probably not approve. She was a great believer in ladies maintaining their standards, but that was too bad. Harriet had no intention of waking the housekeeper at this early hour and she was quite able to prepare her own tea.

The bedchamber was chilled from the long, cold night. Harriet dressed quickly in a faded, long-sleeved wool gown and pinned a muslin cap on her springy hair.

She passed the window on her way to the door and automatically glanced out to observe the dawn light as it struck the sea. The tide was out and it would have been an excellent hour to hunt fossils. It was too bad Gideon had forbidden her to go near the caves until after the thieves were caught.

Out of the corner of her eye Harriet saw a figure on the beach below her window. She halted abruptly and leaned out to get a better look. Perhaps it was a fisherman, she reassured herself.

But a moment later the figure scuttled, back into view for a few seconds and Harriet knew at once it was no fisherman. The man was wearing a coat and a rather squashed-looking, low-crowned hat pulled down over his ears. She could not see his face, but she saw at once that the man was making his way along the beach toward the entrance to her precious cave.

Harriet did not hesitate. This was an alarming occurrence and needed immediate investigation. The man below was obviously not one of the thieves. They appeared only in the middle of the night.

That left one other all too likely possibility. The man was very likely another fossil collector who was attempting to sneak into her caves.

Harriet knew she had to get down to the beach at once to see what the intruder intended.

Chapter Five

The early morning air was chilled. Harriet wrapped the heavy cloak that had belonged to her mother more tightly around her. She made her way cautiously down the cliff path. The sun would be up soon, but for now there was only a soft, gray light reflecting off the sea.

When she reached the bottom of the path she turned and hurried along the beach toward the row of openings in the cliffs. She could see boot prints in the damp sand. If she could just be certain the intruder was not heading for the one particular cave she was most interested in these days, she could relax.

It would be simple enough to follow the tracks and reassure herself that no one else had chanced upon the passageway that led to the cavern that contained the tooth.

But a few minutes later Harriet saw with horror that the boot prints disappeared straight into a familiar cavern entrance. It could be just coincidence, she told herself uneasily.

Or it could mean that someone else was about to put his grubby hands on her precious tooth.Bloody hell. She had been a fool to allow Gideon to keep her out of the cave until after his plans had been completed. This was what came of putting a man like Gideon in charge of this sort of thing.

Clutching the cloak tightly closed and wishing she had brought a lamp, Harriet stepped care fully, through the narrow entrance and into the yawning cavern.

She came to a halt at once when she realized she could proceed no farther without a light of some sort. For a moment she stood still, allowing her eyes to adjust to the gloom. She could hear water dripping around her in the eerie darkness.

Harriet strained to see down the narrow corridor of stone that led out of the back of the cavern. There was no sign of a light. The intruder had already passed from sight into the twisting tunnel that ultimately led to the cave full of stolen treasure and her tooth.

"Bloody hell," Harriet muttered aloud, thoroughly frustrated. There was nothing to be done. She would simply have to wait out here in the cavern until the man returned. Then she would tell him in very strong terms that she had Gideon's personal guarantee that these caves were to be explored only by her.

She was standing there impatiently, arms folded under her breasts, when a very large hand descended heavily on her shoulder. It gripped her firmly and spun her around.

"Dear God, what on earth—" Harriet gave a small shriek of alarm and then realized it was Gideon who had come through the narrow opening behind her. "Oh, my lord, it is only you. Thank heaven. You gave me quite a start."

"You deserve a lot more than a bad start," Gideon muttered. "I ought to put you over my knee. What the devil are you doing here? I told you that you were not to go into these caves until after the thieves have been apprehended."

Harriet scowled. "Yes, I know, my lord. But you will understand why I had to come down here when I tell you that I just happened to look out my window a short while ago and saw another collector sneaking in here."

"The hell you did." Gideon glanced toward the tunnel. He had a lamp in his hand, but it was not lit.

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